Rescues We Will Never Forget

Written by PETA | August 21, 2012

Today marks PETA’s 32nd birthday. Over the past three decades, PETA has saved countless animals from abusive situations. Here are just a few of the animals we will never forget and who can thank the millions of supporters who make the work of PETA and its affiliates possible:

Ruby was adopted into a loving home after a PETA undercover investigation at Professional Laboratory and Research Services, Inc., got the workers indicted on felony cruelty-to-animals charges, the 250 dogs and cats at the facility surrendered, and the place shut down!

After a PETA investigation got international exotic-animal dealer U.S. Global Exotics shut down, a record-breaking 26,000 animals were seized, including Ruby and Rusty, two kinkajous, who were sent to the beautiful, spacious Phoenix Herpetological Society sanctuary.

Crippled, nearly blind from an eye infection, and infested with lice, Jerry was rescued in the nick of time by a PETA investigator from a dairy factory farm and retired to a spacious sanctuary for lots of long-overdue TLC.

PETA India staffers rescued Parineeta from the side of the road, where she had been abandoned with a broken leg after spending years hauling building materials for railroads. She now lives in the beautiful Nilgiri hills with other retired working animals.

Nudge spent nearly 10 years confined to a tiny cage in a filthy “no-kill” warehouse. A PETA investigation got the hoarder shut down and the animals removed forever. Now Nudge has a wonderful home and all the snuggling that she can handle.

Miranda’s owner was going to eat Miranda and her sisters until a PETA staffer came along and talked the man out of the idea. Now, instead of being on the dinner table, Miranda and her siblings happily run and play around it—and the rest of the house.

Alaska was forced to live in a cramped cage and perform for the Suarez Bros. Circus in temperatures that topped 100 degrees, until a PETA complaint resulted in her confiscation by the federal government. She was retired to a comfortable compound at the Baltimore Zoo, where she could play with a formerly lonely male polar bear.

Pancake lived in one filthy tank after another, and no one knew how to fulfill even the most basic of his turtle needs. A PETA staffer discovered Pancake’s appalling living conditions and had him sent to a sanctuary.

After Sheena‘s reluctant guardian surrendered the mutt to a Utah animal shelter, Sheena was purchased by the University of Utah for use in experiments. Sheena’s guardian alerted PETA, and we were able to get Sheena out of the laboratory and stop all seizures of dogs and cats from Utah pounds.

Someone burned the beaver lodge in which beaver Puff lived and shot the beavers as they fled. That’s how Puff found himself in the yard of a kind couple who located a wildlife rehabilitator for him. PETA’s wildlife biologist drove Puff the eight hours to the rehabilitator, who nurtured him until he could be released.

Dovi was a sick and malnourished puppy, abandoned along a rural road in North Carolina when PETA’s Community Animal Project workers found him. Now, he is a happy, healthy dog who loves harmonica music and bounding about in the dog park.

Muff spent 15 years in a tiny cage at a roadside zoo with nothing to do but pace endlessly back and forth. But just two days after PETA rescuers took him to the Texas Snow Monkey Sanctuary, he had stopped pacing and made friends with a female baboon.

Herman was abandoned on the beach near PETA’s Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters. Knowing that the warm-weather animal would never survive the winter, a PETA staffer arranged for him to be transported to a Florida wildlife sanctuary.

Cem, Zoe, and four other geese were found languishing in muddy ponds on a run-down property. PETA took them in, and now the six friends float on two large and beautiful ponds on wooded property at a sanctuary for rescued waterfowl.

During an undercover investigation at a University of North Carolina laboratory, PETA found mice and rats suffering from gaping wounds, tumors, and other illnesses and injuries. One of them was sweet Tulip, a mouse whom the investigator took home with her to live safely forever.

I love the little mouse!! She wouldn’t fare too well at my house as I have 6 cats. Mine are all rescues, and I may have a 7th soon. I thank GOD for PETA. If it wasn’t for you, animals would still be suffering with no chance for rescue or a good life.

I thank God for Ingrid and PETA. No other animal rescue does what PETA does. They take on the big organizations and win! People who knock PETA don’t have a clue and probably eat meat and don’t bother to help save any animals.

Thank You all of you beautiful angels that work for PETA. You, and stories like these make me realize we can make a difference. Good can triumph over evil. I refuse to be someone who turns a blind eye to the evils of this world, we can and will make a difference one beautiful animal at a time.

wonderful and heart warming work on all these rescues….wish more could have been done to rescue the thousands of geese near nyc airports alreaady slaughtered and to prevent more such abuse in the future.

I’m trying so hard not to cry right now! I’m a struggling college student who can’t afford to donate much, but every day I wake up thinking that the 5 dollars here and there might just save a beautiful animal’s life. I am proud to be part of PETA and hope the cruelty to animals will one day come to a complete stop. Thanks for everything you do!

Kudos to PETA! Where I live in Winnipeg Manitoba we get a lot of pointless cruelty towards animals. Mostly from teenagers who think their behavior is socially acceptable and when they are caught they just laugh it off. We just had a case where someone threw a 4 week old puppy in a garbage bin and left it there in the rain and the sweltering heat for it to either die of a heat stroke or be crushed by the garbage truck. Luckily little Ruby I believe she was named was Rescued and adopted out to a loving family. I wish I could take every neglected animal into my home but I can’t so I care for my Rocco (Shih tzu and schnauser cross) with the same respect and love that I show to my fellow human being. Because we all know that a loved and cared for animal is a happy one!

Congratulations guys! You are amazing! When i’m feeling down with all the evil i see around me, i´m so grateful with your existance, because you make me believe again in human race1 There are good people, among of millions, and millions of monsters!

I heart PETA. I am a newbie vegan and get wide eyed and bushy tailed every time I tell someone that I am vegan. I have begun to pray every night to be able to be a voice for animals. Thank you for being a large part of my inspiration and motivation! I check in on your blog almost every day. <3 <3 <3

Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights? Read more.